Manufacture of cigarettes



Oct. 123, 1934. A. PoDMoRE MANUFACTURE OF CIGARETTES Filed July 2l 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet Fig. 3.

Oct. 23, 1934. A, PODMQRE 1,977,998

MANUFACTURE OF C IGARETTES Filed July 2l, 1953 2 Sheets-'Sheet 2 Patented Oct. 23, 1934 l l l l y I Larmes MANUFAo'rURE 0F CIGARETTES Arthur .Podmore, London, England, assignor to American Machine & Foundry Company, New t York, N. Y.,r a corporation of New Jersey `ApplicationJuly 21, 1933, Serial No. 681,461

i In Great Britain July 26, 1932 14 claims. (c1. 1er- 43) `This invention relates to` the manufacture of Figs. 1 and 2,` an auxiliary tobacco feed is procigarettes by the continuous rod method and vided comprising a chute 5 which is located at wherein the cigarettes are formed with an end the rear of the main chute 6, whereby the spaced portion or portions in which the tobacco is denser increments of tobacco are received by the cigal "v5 than theremainder of the cigarette, by the feedrette paper web 7 prior to the normal supply of 60 ing of spaced increments of tobacco additional tobacco. t th@ normal Supply.` The chute 5 may be constructed as a separate The invention may be applied to cigarette makunit or it may be incorporated in the main chute, ing machines in which the tobacco is received which may or may not be lengthened for the pur- `lil4 upon the cigarette paper web in the form of `a pose, the inner wall 8 terminating in a sharp 65` shower or sliver or to machinesin which the toupper edge to direct `the desired portion of the bacco `is received upon a conveyor band (either shower oi` tobacco into the auxiliary chute. as a shower or sliver) fromv which it is trans- The tobacco supply is provided by the pin ferred to the cigarette paper web. wheel 9 and picker roll 16 which may comprise 15 According to the invention, in the feeding of extensions of the pin wheel and'picker roll adapt- 7o tobacco to a cigaretterod making machine whereed to shower tobacco into the main chute or comin the rod is formed with alternate dense and partment 6. less dense portions (corresponding to positions at At the lower end of the chute `5 a drum 10 is which the rod will be cut) by the provision of provided having side flanges a, 10h and adapted spaced increments `of tobacco additional to the to rotate upon an axis arranged transverse to 75 normal supply, the increments of tobacco are dethe direction of movement of the cigarette paper livered to the traveling cigarette paper web or web. The drum is providedwith a pair of vanes the like prior to the delivery of the normal supply. 11 dividing the drum and co-operating with the The invention also consists in imparting to the curved wall 12 of the .chute to form a pair of increments as they are delivered tothe cigarette measuring compartments.

paper web, a movement in the vdirection of Vand The` drum is mounted upon a spindle 13 carrypreferably at the speed ofsaid web. j ing a-sprocket wheel 14 by which it is driven The increments may be delivered by means of through a chain 17 from an auxiliary shaft 15 a rotary vaned drum and according-toa further from any suitable part, such as the drive from feature of the invention the vanes of the' drum the cigarette cut off. i

may be provided with cutting edges adapted to The drum 10 may be driven continuously or cooperate with a surf'aceito s ever any strands of intermittently through suitable mechanism such tobacco lying across the vane and thus separate as a Genevastop drive.

successive increments from oneianother.' AAs viewed in Figure 2 the cigarette web moves Further features of inventionfwillf be herein? from right to left and the drum rotates in aV 90 after described and defined in they claims. i clockwise direction.`

The invention will be described by way ofeX-` 'As the tobacco is showered into the vchute 5 it ample in its appleatol t0 atbaCeO feed `in is directed into the right hand compartment 5d which the tobacco is showered onto the? cigarette by reason of the lower end of the Wall 8 being 40 Papel' Wbl i" located substantially above the axis of the drum, 95 In the eCCOIIlDaDYiIlg dTaWgS-f, while the opposite wall is arranged substantially Fig, 1 is a cross section of part ff an auxiliary tangential to the drum.

1ObavCCO feed adapted t0 Supply lfedsed nele- The tobacco lodges on the curved Wall 12 from ments to the normal tobacco feed. I which it is delivered bythe vane of the drum onto Fig. 2` is `a front view partly in section of the the paper Web. 100

auxiliary feed and indicating the normal feed It will be appreciated that as the upper vane Chute- 11V approaches a horizontal position, tobacco will Figi 3 aldl degralmmaeelly illustrliemodfall onto or rest upon the vane and will move ed methOdS 0f predlleng'the dense portions in downwardly with the vane. In order to avoid the cigarette rod. delivering the tobacco from the rear of the vane 105 Fig. 5 diagrammatically yillustrlates a further as the latter passes the delivery edge of the curved form of apparatus in whichsuc'tionis employed wall 12, the vanes are provided with a cuttingv to control the feed of Athe increments of tobacco. edge 11a, adapted to co-operate with a` pressure y In carrying the invention into effect according' roll 18 whereby any shreds of tobacco lylng across to one convenient model and as illustrated in the edge of `the vane will be severed when the 110 f... ne

vane engages theroll so that the increments of tobacco lying in front of and to the rear of each vane will be entirely separate from one another.

The shaft of the roll 18 is mounted in slots and springs 19 are provided to permit the roll to yield when engaged by the vanes 11.

The increments of tobacco as measured by the drum 10 are delivered in spaced relation upon the cigarette paper web as the latter travels past the delivery edge of the wall 12 and then the web receives the normal supply from the chute 6, whereby the cigarette rod is formed with uniformly occurring irregularities in the density of the tobacco, so that when the rod is severed into cigarette lengths each cigarette will be formed with denser portions at its ends, the increments of tobacco, as will be understood, being delivered at the positions along the rod corresponding to the severance of the rod.

It will be obvious that instead of spacing the increments of tobacco to correspond to cigarette lengths, the spacing may be arranged to produce a rod having' denser portions corresponding to two cigarette lengths, so that the cigarettes will be produced having only one dense end.

The speed of rotation of the drum 10 may be such that the incrementiof tobacco as it is delivered to the cigarette paper web moves at substantially the speed of the web.

In carrying the invention into effect according to a modified arrangement, an oscillating surface or element 20, see Figure 3, may be provided in the tobacco chute 21, into which the tobacco is showered. The element is pivotally mounted at its upper end while its lower end extends into proximity but not in contact with the cigarette paper web 7. The element oscillates in the direction of the paper web feed and is adapted to intercept a portion of the shower of tobacco and cause it to be delivered to the paper web in spaced heaps or waves.

As the paper travels through the trough and receives the main shower these spacedheaps or Waves effect the desired uniformly occurring irregularities in the density of the cigarette rod.

The oscillations of the surface or element 20 may be effected by coupling it by a link 22 to any suitable actuating element or drive, such las eccentrics, cranks or the like.

It will be appreciated that the oscillating element will be timed to synchronize with the cut-01T device so that the heaps or waves of tobacco will correspond to the position of the cut whereby the cigarettes will be formed with denser end portions.

The oscillating element may comprise a chute or a spring steel member, or as illustrated diagrammatically in Figure 4, may comprise an endless travelling band 23 mounted on an oscillatable frame 24 and driven in any suitable manner. '111e frame is coupled to a crank or eccentric by a link 22.

According to a further modification (see Figure 5) the auxiliary supply of tobacco adapted to form the added increments is delivered into the chute 5 and is received upon an endless travelling band or conveyor 25 which is supported upon spaced end rolls or drums 26, 27 mounted to rotate upon axes transverse to the direction of feed of the cigarette paper web. The conveyor is provided with a series of spaced blocks 28, the conveyor intermediate such blocks being provided with perforations 29.

The conveyor is mounted between rside walls so as to form a suction chamber 30 into vwhich a suction pipe 31 projects such pipe being coupled to a pump or other suitable source of suction.

Located Within the suction chamber is a bafe 32 within which the inner face of the conveyor 25 contacts, the arrangement being such that as the perforations pass the edge 32a of the baffle suction will be cut off and a shield 33 is provided concentric with the axis of the drum 27 and encloses the part of the conveyor which functions to convey the increments of tobacco.

"The conveyor 25 may be driven intermittently or continuously.

In operation, tobacco from suitable carding mechanism is delivered or showered into the chute and is received upon the conveyor 25 within the space between a pair of blocks 28. The tobacco is retained 4on the conveyor by the suction and is thus prevented from falling into a heap as the conveyor, passes around the drum 27. As the conveyor passes the edge 32a of the baiile the perforations -29 are covered whereby the tobacco is released and falls onto the travelling paper web 7or other travelling band so that the increment of-.tobacco is spread out to the desired amount on such webs. Any shreds of tobacco not adhering tothe conveyor as it passes around the drum 27 will be caught by the shield 33 and is delivered therefrom by the appropriate block 28 over the deliveryedge 33a.

According to a vfurther modication, a bucketed wheel maybe provided at the front end or the rear end of the chute, such wheel being mounted to rotate upon an axis transverse to the direction of movement of the cigarette paper web. As the Wheel rotates the buckets are filled with tobacco from vthe shower or from an independent supply and the buckets deliver the tobacco therein onto the cigarettev paper web at spaced points and thus provide spacedincrements of tobacco to the normal feed, whereby the desired variation of density is secured. The bucket wheel may operate within the ends of the chute or in a separate compartment adjacent such ends.

It is to be noted that the auxiliary tobacco feed may be controlled in such a manner that instead f of delivering spaced increments which are distinct and separate from ,one another, a more or lessrcontinuous delivery may take place which, however, is such that it assumes a Wave-like form when on the band or web of paper, adapted to produce a cigarette rod having the denser and less dense por-tions.

The invention is not limited to the details set out above, by way of example, as such may be altered in various ways with a view to obtaining the adjustments in the tobacco feed necessary to produce the variations of density of the tobacco in the cigarette rod.

I claim:

1. The combination with. cigarette rod forming j and cutting mechanism, of means for successively providing said mechanism prior to the formation voi" the rod with separated increments of tobacco for'addition to the normal supply'to enable said mechanism to produce supernormal dense rod portions at intervals timed to cause the cutting mechanism to sever the rod in the middle of the dense portions.

'2. The combination with cigarette rod forming and cutting mechanism, of means for successively providing said mechanism prior to the formation of the rod with separated increments of tobacco for addition to the normal supply to enable said mechanism to produce supernormal dense rod portions at intervals timed to cause the cutting mechanism to sever the rod in the middle of the dense portions, said means being operative to deliver said increments to said mechanism While moving in the direction of rod movement.

3.` The combination with cigarette rod forming and cutting mechanism, of means for successively providing said mechanism prior to the formation of the rod with separated increments of tobacco for addition to the normal supply to enable said mechanism to produce supernormal dense rod portions at intervals timed to cause the cutting mechanism to sever the rod in the middle of the dense portions, said means being operative to deliver said increments to said mechanism While moving in the direction of rod movement and at the same speed.

4. The combination with cigarette rod forming and cutting mechanism, of means for successively providing said mechanism prior to the formation of the rod with separated increments of tobacco for addition to the normal supply to enable said mechanism to produce supernormal dense rod portions at intervals timed to cause the cutting mechanism to sever the rod in the middle of the dense portions, the delivery point of said means being located close to the unloaded paper vweb moving into said mechanism to effect delivery of thedncrements to the web Without dropping them. 5. The combination with cigarette rod forming and cutting mechanism, of means for successively providing said mechanism prior to the formation of the rod with. separated increments of tobacco for addition to the normal supply to enable said mechanism toproduce supernormal dense rod portions at intervals timed to cause the cutting mechanism to sever the rod in the middle of the dense portions, said means acting to force said increments in compact form onto the paper web moving into said mechanism. i

6. The combination with cigarette rod forming and cutting mechanism, of means for successively providing said mechanism prior` to the formation of the rod With separated increments of toi bacco for addition to the normal supply to enable said mechanism to produce supernormal dense rod portions at intervals timed to cause the cutting mechanism to sever the rod in the middle of the dense portions, said means including cutting means for insuring complete separation of successive increments.

7. The combination with cigarette rod forming and cutting mechanism, of means for successively providing said mechanism prior to the formation of the rod with separated increments of tobacco for addition to the normal supply to enable saidmechanism to producesupernormal dense rod portions at intervals timed to cause the cutting mechanism to sever the rod in the middle of the dense portions, said means including a rotating device carrying incremente separating knives.

' 8. The combination With cigarette rod forming and cutting mechanism, of means for successively providing said mechanism prior to the formation of the rod With separated increments of tobacco foraddition to the normal supply to enable said mechanism to `produce supernormal dense rod portions at intervals timed to cause the cutting `mechanism to sever the rod in the middle of the dense portions, said means `including a rotating device carrying increment separating knives, and a spring-pressed roller coacting with said knives.

9. The combination with cigarette rod forming and cutting mechanism, of means for successively providing said mechanism prior to the formation of the rod with separated increments of tobacco for addition to the normal supply to enable said mechanism to produce supernormal dense rod portions at'intervals timed to cause the cutting mechanism to sever the rod in the middle of the dense portions, said means including a vaned drum and a coacting curved Wall arranged to deliver increments to said mechanism While moving'in the direction of rod movement.`

10. The combination with cigarette rod forming and cutting mechanism, of means for successively providing said mechanism prior to the formation of the rod with separated increments of tobacco for addition to the normal supply to enable said mechanism to produce supernormal dense rod portions at intervals timed to cause the vcutting mechanism to sever the rod in the middle of the dense portions, said means including a `vaned `drum and a coacting chute provided With a Wall arranged to partially shield the upper surface of the drum and to direct falling tobacco onto the feed side of the drum.

11. The combination with cigarette rod forming and cutting mechanism, of means for successively providing said mechanism prior to the formation of the rod with separated increments of tobacco for addition to the normal supply to enable said mechanism to produce supernormal dense rod portions at intervals timed `to cause the cutting mechanism to sever the rod in the middle of the dense portions, said means including an oscillating deflector arranged to intercept falling tobacco and deliver it to said mechanism in separated increments.

12. Tlhecombination with cigarette rod forming and cutting mechanism, of means for successively providing said` mechanism prior to the formation of the rod With separated increments of tobacco for addition to the normal supply to enable said mechanism to produce supernormal dense rod portions at intervals timed to cause the cutting mechanism to sever the rod in the middle of the dense portions, said means includving anoscillating and traveling belt intercepting falling tobacco and delivering it to said mechanism in separated increments.

13. The combination with cigarette rod forming and cutting mechanism, of means for vsuccessively providing said mechanism prior tothe formation of the rod with separated increments of tobacco for addition to the normal supply to enable said mechanism to produce supernormal dense rod portions at intervals timed to cause the cutting mechanism to sever the rod in the middle of the dense portions, said means including a suction conveyor and a suction cutoff controlling delivery of said increments to said mechanism.

14. The combination with cigarette rod forming and cutting mechanism, of means for successively providing said mechanism prior to the formation of the rod with separated increments of tobacco for addition to the normal supply to enable said mechanism to produce supernormal dense rod portions at intervals timed to cause the cutting mechanism to sever the rod inthe middle of the dense portions, said means including an endless perforated conveyor, a suction chamber over and under which said conveyor runs, increment measuring devices carried by said conveyor, and a baille Within said chamber for cutting off suction from the under run of said conveyor to cause discharge of increments of tobacco held thereon. ARTHUR PODMORE. 

